3 Days of terror
by sparklingsparks
Summary: The Iwatobi team join forces with one goal in mind: make Makoto overcome his fears. The results are...interesting.


Makoto was confused.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one. Looks of confusion filled the room, which had all the freshness you could expect from an abandoned house. Makoto could almost _smell_ the dust. The reason for meeting in a house that had been empty for the last eight years was unfathomable as of yet.

Theoretically, this was an official reunion of the Iwatobi swim club.

This was something the teenager seriously doubted for numerous and varied reasons. To begin with, it was summer, which already made the term 'official reunion ' suspicious at best. Furthermore the presence of Rin, who wasn't even in the same high school-let alone swim team- was rather questionable. However, the most incriminating piece of information so far was the fact that Nagisa had been the one to set up the meeting. Makoto loved his friend dearly but...

"Well, you must be asking yourselves why I have asked you to come here." declared the blond, whose curls seemed to glitter in the pale light.

Makoto observed the rest of the group. Rei was discreetly cleaning the dust of his chair with a handkerchief, Haru's face seemed to be saying the reason for the reunion was the last thing he wanted to know, and the Matsuoka siblings somehow managed to look simultaneously confused and bored.

Since nobody seemed in a rush to reply to Nagisa, Makoto spoke up.

"You are right Nagisa-kun. Is there some sort of problem?"

Nagisa's face became solemn and he declared:

"Yes Mako-chan, the problem... is you." Before anyone could openly express their confusion, Nagisa made a calming gesture. "Guys, guys, let me explain myself.."

"You see, Mako-chan himself isn't the problem. Please, he has never hurt a fly in his life. The problem is his fear of-"

"Ghosts?" guessed Kou. Makoto smiled nervously, he had to admit that was true.

"Darkness?" asked Haruka. That was also true.

"Don't forget bugs." contributed Rin. Well, those were enough examples for the day.

"And direct contact with blood or organs of humans and animals." Said Rei.

"Technically," he added, "humans are animals, however for this example I thought it would be more appropriate to separate both categories in order to-"

"Yeah, yeah that's what I meant" interrupted Nagisa. " As you see, Mako-chan, you have a lot of phobias to overcome, and that is the reason for this meeting."

Makoto blinked, absorbing this new piece of information, but his thoughts were interrupted when Rin asked what everyone was thinking.

"Overcoming fears is cool and all, but what does this have to do with swimming?"

Nagisa's face was blank for a moment, but quickly smiled again.

"Ah.. Well, clearly, a proper swimming team needs all its members to be in an optimal mental condition, because their performance might be affected-"

"You just want to be able to go with Makoto to that horror movie that is going to be released in four days." said Haruka, with the slightest tone of accusation. Makoto suspected Haruka had nailed it, however Rei didn't seem to think the same thing.

"But Haruka-sempai, I think Nagisa-kun has a solid argument, it has been scientifically proven that an athlete's mental state is crucial for the adequate execution of a sport..."

 _No Rei , please don't support this madness._ Makoto was happy being a scaredy-cat, there was no need to change this status.

"Even if it doesn't have anything to do with swimming, it might be a positive thing for Makoto to overcome his fears..." reflected Kou. Makoto felt his hope being gradually destroyed. He looked at Rin, his last hope. The boy shrugged.

"I don't care about your crazy ideas." Nagisa took this as a yes.

"Perfect! In that case the plan is to make Makoto overcome his phobias in 3 days, starting from tomorrow." _So Haru was right._ "So... How do we do it?"

"It might be difficult for all of us to agree on a plan," said Kou, "so I think each one of us should help Makoto individually. Although if we only have three days... Maybe two people could try to help Makoto per day? One would get a whole day anyways, we are an odd number of people"

"Perhaps each pair could work in a team, that way we don't take away too much time from Makoto-senpai." added Rei.

"Nice!" exclaimed Nagisa, clapping a bit, "If you all agree to do it this way, we can use today to plan how and with who will we help our dear Mako-chan."

"Do we form the teams here?" Asked Rei, pushing up his glasses.

Nagisa, perhaps sensing the group wouldn't last much more in the dusty room, said "Nah, you can text me who you are with and I can assign you a day. By the way, I am calling tomorrow all for myself!" Makoto, scandalized, looked at his friends, were they really going to accept this cruelty?

After the whole thing was settled, the teens chatted for a bit in the abandoned house. They talked about Nagisa's sisters, Rin's school... When the sun began to set, the teens went to their respective homes, preparing solutions for Makoto's fears. Makoto himself didn't want to think about Makoto's fears, which is why after feeding all the cats in his neighborhood and playing with his siblings, he went to sleep.

The following morning, he received a text from Nagisa.

 _Come to my house as soon as possible :)_

Being the punctual person that he was, half an hour later Makoto was in front of Nagisas's door, knocking the took a deep breath, trying not to think about what the blond could possibly have in store for him. A chill ran down his spine. Nonetheless, he had no time to deal with his worries because Nagisa opened the door at that very instant.

"Mako-chan!"

Makoto tried to smile, but it came out too forced.

After Makoto took of his shoes, Nagisa grabbed his arm with a steel grip and dragged him to his soon as they came in, the short swimmer quickly closed the door and locked it. Makoto gulped, looking around the room for any hint of his upcoming fate.

Suddenly, Nagisa threw something at him. Makoto,with an slightly feminine scream, protected himself from the impact. When he heard Nagisa's laugh, he dared look at the object in question, which turned out to be a bag of chips.

"You're so tense Mako-chan! It was only a snack!" Makoto blushed and opened the bag.

He grabbed a chip and paused, "Nagisa-kun, I don't doubt your hospitality, but is there any ulterior motive behind this offer? Have you put anything strange on the chips?"

"Makoto, what a low opinion you have of me."Nagisa looked almost offended. "It's an innocent bag of chips, to set the mood a bit."

"..Set the mood?" Nagisa smiled impishly and turned on the TV.

"We are going to watch a video, Mako-chan" The tiny swimmer lowered the blinds and turned off the lights. Makoto was metaphorically trembling. He held on tightly to the bag of chips while Nagisa introduced a suspicious DVD into the device. Finally, the boy hit play and sat down next to Makoto.

The tall swimmer, expecting killing sprees or spirit possessions, was baffled when he saw what seemed to be an amateur recording of...

"Nagisa, isn't that your mother?"

Nagisa nodded.

"But what does your mom have to do with any of this? Has she acted in a horror movie?" Nagisa laughed. He looked at him with those big eyes of his.

"Did I mention anything about a horror movie?" Makoto looked at the screen again. Nagisa's mother was still there, she seemed to be in some sort of hospital.

"But what are we going to see then?" At that moment he realized miss Hazuki was pregnant. Nagisa grabbed a chip and casually said, "A video of my birth."

Some time afterwards, Nagisa's sisters would ask themselves why were there terrified screams coming from their brother's room.

"Well Mako-chan," Nagisa tuned off the TV and stretched , "not that bad huh?

Makoto tried to nod.

"Are you okay?" asked Nagisa, "you look a bit pale...well, more like green. It's actually similar to the shade of that liquid that started coming out when-"

"Nagisa.. I t-think I have to go home now" said Makoto, trying to fight against the urge to vomit right needed air, fresh air..

"Wait Mako-chan, there is something else left." Makoto almost fainted. After pulling up the blinds, the blond boy handed him a mysterious envelope.

"I've ordered something for you on the internet." said Nagisa, "I don't know if it has reached your house yet- but when it does-open the envelope. The instructions are by the way..." he looked at him dead on the eye.

"If you open the envelope before you should, I will know" Makoto felt inclined to believe him.

Indeed, Makoto did not touch the envelope until he reached his home. There his parents told him that,yes, an object had arrived and,yes, they had left it on his room. Nonetheless, neither parent could conceal their confused expression.

Makoto spent 10 minutes in front of the door, too afraid to open it (5 of those minutes were dedicated to pressing his ear against the door, trying to detect weird noises). Finally, he opened the door and quickly entered the room.

Makoto was so baffled by the sight in front of him he couldn't even get scared.

There was a coffin in the middle of his bedroom.

Shakily, he opened Nagisa's envelope.

 _Hi Mako-chan, I hope you like my gift (although I might have used your bank account to buy it..)._

 _Don't be fooled by its appearance, it's not a coffin. It's a coffin-shaped bed. If you open it you will be pleased to find a fluffy mattress. I thought the best way to overcome what you fear is BECOME what you fear, which is why I'll ask you to please sleep inside this for the next three days._

 _Enjoy 3_

 _-Nagisa_

Makoto slept terribly.

The boy could feel his eye bags, and the eye bags underneath his eye yawned. Not only was the coffin anything but 'fluffy', he had also had nightmares related to Nagisa's video. He tried not to think about the latter.

Thus, it was only natural that when Makoto received a message from Rei, telling him to come to his house, he felt an overwhelming desire to throw his phone down the toilet. He then regretted this last thought, as his friends were just trying to help him.

In the end-and not sure why- Makoto found himself in front of the door. He knew he would regret it, but he reassured himself with the fact that Rei and Gou (who was revealed to be Rei's 'teammate') weren't as perturbed as the seemingly angelical Nagisa was.

Thus, when Rei's parents opened the door, Makoto tried to conceal the fact that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

Rei's parents, who Makoto had not talked to before, turned out to be very nice. Makoto was pretty sure they had liked him (for some strange reason, all of his friends' parents seemed to love him). After a brief talk in which Makoto had to talk about what he wanted to study,his family,his love life, his life goals and his religious beliefs, the tall swimmer finally reached Rei's room. Rei and Kou were already waiting for him.

As soon as the teen put a foot inside the bedroom, Kou grabbed him by the arm and guided him to Rei's bed.

"Lie down, Makoto-san." Makoto complied, but he had a bad feeling. He looked at his two friends. Rei had a notebook and pen in hand, and Kou was looking at him with a fishy smile.

"Um, guys…"

"Well, Makoto-sempai, you must be wondering what we are going to do to you," said Rei, readjusting his glasses.

"I-"

"You see," began Rei, "after arduous hours of research, Matsuouka-san and I have come up with the most optimal way to help you overcome your have reached the conclusion that we must dig into your memories to find what childhood events triggered your fears." Makoto was about to reply, but Gou was quicker.

"Makoto-san, do you feel loved?"

"…I suppose I do?"

"You suppose?"asked Rei,"We need a firmer response."

Makoto took a deep breath. _Why am I subjecting myself to this again?_

"Yes," he replied, "I feel loved." Rei looked at him skeptically.

"Are you sure? It's not uncommon for the eldest child to feel ignored by his parents. If we add to this the fact that your siblings don't listen to your advice either…"

"…"

"Anyways!" exclaimed Kou, interrupting the awkward silence. "Let's continue. Makoto-san, are you satisfied with your life?" Makoto nodded fearfully. Rei was about to reply, but Kou shot him a scathing look.

"Good, good…Rei, it's your turn to ask two questions"

"Splendid, Matsuoka-san. Makoto-sempai, the first thing you have to tell me is your age and occupation."

"Rei-chan… you already know my age and occupation…we go to the same school." Rei blinked, confused.

"Ah, you do have a point Makoto-sempai. I had been so focused on the depths of psychological analysis I had overlooked that detail."

"You can ask another two questions" suggested Kou. Rei nodded.

"Makoto-sempai, have you had sexual intercourse?"

"Pardon?" Makoto wondered if Nagisa's video had somehow disturbed his ear canal, or his mental state.

"Don't feel embarrassed Makoto-sempai. There are many theories asides from Freudian ones that consider sexuality a pivotal point of the psychological profile. So, going back to the question at hand..." Makoto shot Gou a begging look, but the girl's face had turned the same color as her hair, and she seemed to be suspiciously interested in his response.

"...no..." Rei nodded and scribbled something in his notebook.

"Very well, do you like men or women?"

"Um-"

"Perhaps both?"

"Rei-san, I think we should avoid making Makoto feel too uncomfortable, it might be counterproductive. You can go to the next question."

"Very well. Makoto-sempai, how often do you mastur-"

"Rei!" Kou looked like she might strangle Rei at any moment now.

"Let's change topic." she said, "Makoto-san, tell us about your friendships."

"Well, you already know who my friends are..."

"It doesn't matter. Just tell us things about us that stress you"

"Nothing, really." Kou raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Well, both of you are very good people. I mean, perhaps you are a tad eccentric in your way of helping me, but I know it's well-intentioned."

"What about the rest of the group?" asked Kou.

"Um, Nagisa-kun is very optimistic and makes our group so lively, although perhaps.." He thought about some particular scenes of that video "Perhaps he might be a bit too enthusiastic about some things. Rin-san can be very sweet when he wants to" this was met with incredulous looks ." Really, he can... Anyways, if anything his temper might be a bit too rough."

"And Haruka-sempai?"

"Uh, well... I love Haru as if he was my brother, but..."

"But?"

"Well..."

Half an hour later, Kou and Rei were nodding while Makoto kept talking.

"And then I told him he couldn't take his clothes off in a restaurant, but he didn't listen to me and he got in the aquarium with the lobsters and I...I..."

Kou and Rei nodded empathically, this explained so much.

On the third day Haruka and Rin had to come pick up Makoto, since it was already noon and the teen hadn't shown any intention of going anywhere . The teen's head started hurting just thinking of the possibility of going to another house. It didn't help that Haruka had told him to come with his swimwear on. Knowing Haru's... peculiarities, Makoto found the request somewhat unsettling.

On the bright side, both teens were disturbed by the coffin bed. Especially Rin.

As they walked, Makoto observed the other two boys. Haru was looking distractedly at the sea and Rin had his headphones on. The volume, however, was so high Makoto could hear Rin's weird Australian music. Makoto looked at them again, feeling a bit queasy. Rin and Haru forming a team was a scary concept.

"Where are we going to?"

"First we are going to my house" said Haruka.

 _First?_

Reaching Haru's house wasn't too hard since him and Makoto were practically neighbors. Usually this was a fact that pleased Makoto, but not this time. They arrived in less than ten minutes. Makoto's gaze met with a pair of blue eyes.

"Makoto, I've prepared some fish. You can eat it in the common room. Rin, come help me with the arrangements." Rin snorted.

"You can do that by yourself, you didn't help me with _my_ arrangements" Makoto was confused.

"What do you mean your arrangements? Aren't you guys working together?"

"Nope, we are supervising each others' plans to see who has the best idea." replied Rin. Haru nodded.

 _Why am I even surprised?_

"I'm gonna go set up everything," Haru paused, "I don't need Rin's help anyways, he would mess everything up"

Rin fell for it.

"Oh really? We'll see about that, Haru."

That's how Makoto found himself alone, eating a piece of fish. He didn't actually want to eat it, but Haru had made it for him so he couldn't say no.

He heard weird noises, occasionally followed by loud comments. Makoto sighed and continued eating, resigning himself to his fate.

It was already starting to get dark. Makoto was about to take a nap when Haruka and Rin reappeared.

"This is nuts." muttered Rin.

"Makoto, follow me." Somewhat sleepy, Makoto stood up and followed Haruka. Makoto expected anything by now, yet he was confused to find himself in front of Haru's bathroom door.

"Open the door." said the black-haired boy, almost solemnly.

Makoto opened the door.

Makoto wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but definitely not this. The bathroom's lights were turned off, yet the room was illuminated: hundreds of candles filled the room;

on the edge of the tub, on top of the toilet, on the counters. It looked like a demonic ritual, but Makoto decided not to voice this particular thought. His gaze fell upon the bathtub. The light was making the interior shimmer weirdly. There was... water?

"Makoto, take off your clothes. You brought your swimwear right?" Makoto nodded and peeled off his clothes. The situation was starting to get surrealistic. Knowing what Haru would request, he got inside the tub. He didn't expect, however, that Haru would also dispatch his clothes and get inside the tub with him. Makoto noticed his friend grabbed a strange object before going in.

Given the fact that both teens had an unusually developed physique for someone their age, fitting into the tub was rather difficult. After some clumsy splashing and Rin's discrete laughs, Haru managed to sit himself in a manner in which he was directly facing Makoto. He raised the mysterious object- which turned out to be a pendant- and said:

"Makoto, I'm going to hypnotize you" Makoto must have made a weird expression because Rin said, "See Haru? Even Makoto finds it stupid." Haruka ignored the redhead's comments and started to swing the pendant.

"Look carefully at the pendant." Makoto's gaze followed the object's trajectory, the oscillations were almost relaxing. After a few minutes, Haru cleared his throat and said,

"Now that you are hypnotyzed," _I don't feel very hypnotized ,_ "follow my instructions."

Rin sighed. "Here we go," he muttered.

"Makoto, follow your heart." Makoto looked at Haru in loked like he might face-palm any moment now.

"Free your soul. Listen to the water."

"How the fuck is that going to help him?"

"Makoto, life is like a butterfly.A water butterfly, free but necessary."

 _What does that even mean?_

"Don't be afraid, confront your fears like a stream trickling off a mountain." Suddenly, Haru stopped swinging the pendant.

"I'm done."

"...you are done?"

"Yes."

"..."

The room filled with light.

"In that case," said Rin, who had his hand in the light switch " both of you dress up and come meet me in half an hour at the black house. You know which one it is?" Makoto felt sick.

"The abandoned house everyone says is haunted." Rin's grin was almost predatory.

"That's the one. I have a little surprise for you there."

Half an hour later, Haru had to drag Makoto out of his house. When they arrived Rin was already there, looking at his cellphone attentively. Makoto took a peek at the somber house and knew he was not going in there. .Niet. Rin looked at Makoto.

"Relax Makoto, if you're already scared wait 'til you get inside the house..."

"I-I'm not going inside the house," Rin smiled again.

"But you _are_ going to go in, because inside," he showed him a picture in his cellphone. Although the picture was quite dark, Makoto could make out the shape of two humans and a cat. " are your precious siblings and an innocent kitty!"

"Rin,you've gone too far." said Haru. Rin made a dismissive gesture with his hands.

"Bah, they're safe. I even paid them a bunch of yens. The things is, they won't come out unless you go in, Makoto."

"So, Tachibana?" Makoto took a deep beath.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"You see, my hypnosis worked." said Haru. Rin rolled his eyes. Makoto faced the house and shakily went inside.

The house turned out to be cold, dark and humid. Also, the noise the wind was making was really not normal. The teen entered in what seemed to be the kitchen, but he found nothing. He continued. The more he got into the depths of the house the darkness seemed to get more and more pronounced, and Makoto got more and more scared.

The tall swimmer was standing still, not knowing what to do, when he heard a soft _meow_ coming from the hallway. Makoto started running before he got too scared to do so. The boy was getting closer and closer until-

 _A blanket ?_

Makoto almost ran in what seemed to be a walking pillow. It was actually kind of cute.

"Oh I'm sorry! Wait, I mean.. you shall not pass from here, human." The delicate voice sounded familiar.

"Nitori?"

The pillow showed signs of distress.

"No, no! I.. oh, I've failed sempai again," the boy took off the blanket.

"Ah, to be honest it did scare me a bit," lied Makoto. Nitori's face lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes! By the way Nitori, could you lead me to my siblings?"

"Oh, okay.."

Although the kitty jumped out of Ran's arms and was never seen again, Makoto did manage to return triumphantly with his looked satisfied, and Haru looked somewhat relieved. Makoto and Nitori agreed to retell the story with some flattering retouches, but Makoto felt proud anyways.

While Nitori told them how bravely Makoto had reacted to his creepy disguise, Makoto suddenly felt a surge of happiness. His friends had gone to such lengths for him! Perhaps he could even go see the movie.

The following day all the teens were reunited in the cinema's entrance, exchanging anecdotes of what they had subjected Makoto to. Rin and Haruka were asking Gou which idea she preferred from the two of them, while Nagisa excitedly explained to Rei the birth video. The glass-wearing teen turned a bit pale. Makoto, on the other hand, was focusing on something else entirely. He looked at the movie poster was red and bloody, and the movie was called 'Absolute Massacre', which wasn't very encouraging. Makoto was hopeful though; all that suffering had to have amounted to something.

Finally, it was time to go in. The whole group looked seriously at Makoto.

"Are you ready Mako-chan?" asked Nagisa solemnly.

"Yes."

The group went inside the cinema. Makoto was trembling throughout the commercials, until the movie finally began. At that point he started trembling even more. The movie's setting was a house in the middle of a yellowish green countryside. It was pretty relaxing. The actors appeared. The girl had a gentle face, and the boy looked normal enough. _All good now for now._

Dialogues began. At that point the cinematography started to get darker, to match the somber dialogue. Makoto tried to stay calm anyways. There were a few deaths afterwards, but they were clean and not much was shown.

Suddenly the main characters opened a door and are those.. corpses?

Five minutes later Makoto found himself in front of a toilet, vomiting his lunch. When he got out of the toilet he saw all his friends waiting for him with a guilty look on their faces. Nagisa seemed particularly ashamed.

"Makoto-sempai, we're so sorry," declared Rei.

"Yes Mako-chan, I feel terrible..." added Nagisa.

"Don't worry guys, I just think horror movies will never be my thing" Makoto laughed nervously. Kou faced Makoto.

"Makoto-sempai, I had prepared a little prize for you if you resisted the whole movie, but I think you deserve it anyways, " She pulled out a bunch of tickets from her purse.

"I have discounts for hot springs!"

"Give me back my glasses Nagisa!"

"No way!"

In the masculine sector of the baths, Nagisa-as usual- was tormenting Rei, Rei was being tormented by Nagisa, Rin was looking at his biceps, Haruka was sleeping and Makoto was smiling while he looked at his friends' shenanigans. It was the first time he actually felt relaxed in three days. _And I don't have to sleep inside that awful thing anymore._ The plan had not been successful, but to be honest the lengths to which his friends had gone to help him were both touching and disturbing. His thoughts got interrupted when Rei accidentally stepped on Rin, and Nagisa pushed Haruka by accident, making the two boys join the mess.

Meanwhile, in the feminine sector, more... productive... activities were taking place.

"Kou-chan, isn't this a bit inappopiate?" asked Hanamura -who Kou had picked up on the way to the onsen- while she looked though the hole.

"It's my job as the coach of the Iwatobi swim club to check the physical condition of my swimmers. It's for strictly professional reasons. And to make it as objective as possible, I need your observations as well." replied Kou, who got away from the hole for a second to adjust her hair. Suddenly,Hanamura let out a small scream.

"What's wrong?"asked Kou.

"One of their towels fell off!"

"What?!"


End file.
